


Bodega/Piano

by fujiidom



Category: Louie (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, In-Universe RPF, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:52:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fujiidom/pseuds/fujiidom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Last time, he cried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bodega/Piano

**Author's Note:**

  * For [warriorpoet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/warriorpoet/gifts).



> Major thanks to [hellolamppost17](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hellolamppost17/pseuds/hellolamppost17) for the last-minute beta. I'm playing fast and loose with the girls ages just like Louie plays fast and loose with pretty much everything, so sorry in advance if that irks you. Happy Yuletide! Hope you enjoy!

ACT ONE

FADE IN:

INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY – MORNING

  


LOUIE is stretching to reach to top shelf of his hallway closet. His shirt rides up and some of his belly shows. A box falls and hits him in the face.

LOUIE  
(agitated)

                                                   Lilly, can you come here please?

There’s a noise from the living room and then sneaker squeaks as JANE runs into the hallway. She’s only three.

JANE

                                                   Lilly’s in her room.

LOUIE

                                                   I know that, baby, that’s why I—

(biting his tongue)

                                                   Can you go get her for me?

JANE  
(shrugging, she shrieks)

                                                   Lilly! Daddy wants you!

Louie shuts his eyes, defeated, and leans down to pick up the box. He huffs out a long breath as he bends.

He shuts the closet door with his foot and shuffles with the box out of the hallway.  


CUT TO:  


INT. APARTMENT LIVING ROOM – SAME TIME

Louie drops the shoebox onto the coffee table, haphazardly. Some discarded magazines and papers cause it to slide a few inches before coming to a stop next to where Jane is coloring.

CHYRON: 5 YEARS AGO

Jane looks up and smiles.

LILLY enters the room, also five years younger, and looks at Louie with her arms crossed.  


LILLY

                                                   What?  


LOUIE  
(eyebrows raise)

                                                   What? That’s all you have to say? I’m the one doing the work here.  
                                                   It’s your project.  


LILLY

                                                   I told Mommy about it last week, I’ll just wait until we go back  
                                                   there and do the project then.

LOUIE  
(sadly)

                                                   I know you’re still upset about the two of us not living together anymore  
                                                   but you just have to adjust, baby. It’s better for you. We’ll be a happier  
                                                   family this way.  


LILLY  
(unconvinced)

                                                   Whatever. I’ll be in my room.  


LOUIE

                                                   Lilly, I thought you needed more baby pictures? What happened to needing—

Lilly exits, wordlessly.

LOUIE  
(to himself)

                                                   Thank you, Daddy. It’s so considerate of you to help with this on your day off.

Jane looks up from her coloring book, unimpressed. Louie’s expression softens.

He pulls the top of the shoebox up with two hands and picks a picture out from the top of the pile.

LOUIE’S POV: Close-up over his shoulder of the picture in his hand coming into focus. In the picture, Jane, a baby, is wearing oversized sunglasses and laughing.

Louie smiles. He picks out another few pictures and flips through them, putting his chin in his open hand.

He takes out a third set.

LOUIE  
(flattening a palm over his mouth)

                                                   Holy shit.  


JANE

                                                   Daddy!

 

LOUIE

                                                   Sorry, baby. Daddy’s just— Shit.

(he pulls on his goatee, with stress)

 

Jane is scandalized. She puts her crayon down and gives Louie a look.

LOUIE’S POV: Push-in on a picture of younger Louie and MARC MARON in tuxedos. Louie flips it over and there’s a legible date scribbled on the back. We don’t know what the significance is until...

He pulls out another picture with a full wedding party. Marc is on Louie’s right, next to Louie and his brother, as a groomsman.

Louie tosses the pictures back into the box and rubs a hand on his head. Clearly he is uneasy about the memories it’s stirred.

JANE  
(still frowning)

                                                   Daddy, why did you say that?  


LOUIE  
(far away)

                                                   I don’t know, baby. I don’t know.

FADE OUT.

ACT TWO

FADE IN.  
INT. BODEGA – BREAKFAST AISLE  
  
  
Louie puts a box of Pop Tarts in his hand basket. Another man enters the aisle, big sunglasses and a bushy beard. He has a hand leaning on his lower back, his own hand basket hooked inside where his arms and elbow form in an inverted triangle against his side.  
  
Louie turns and watches him walk by, surprised.

  


LOUIE

  
                                                   Zach?

 

The other man turns to face him, but stays silent.

LOUIE

  
                                                   Galifianakis. 

ZACH

                                                   Never heard of him.  


LOUIE  
(grins)

                                                   Good to see you, man. What are you doing in New York?

 

The camera pans slightly to the left pulling a rotating sunglasses display into frame. There’s a small sign that says SOLAR SHIELDS HELP SENIORS LIVE BRIGHTER LIVES.  
  
They’re so identical to those Zach has on that we’re not sure if he stole a pair upon entering the store.

ZACH

                                                   Uh, not much. Not much. My highly successful FOX hour-long was cancelled  
                                                   last year. So I’ve just been pushing pavement. Trying to find work.

Louie looks him up and down, trying to read him.

ZACH

                                                   I’m kidding.  


(smiling)

                                                   It wasn’t successful at all. How are you? How’s—  


LOUIE

                                                   We split up. Well, not officially. But I moved out a few months ago.

 

Zach pushes his sunglasses off his face and on top of his head.

ZACH  
(forlornly)

                                                   Fuck you, man. Letting me make stupid jokes about my shitty career. You okay?  
                                                   How’re you doing? 

LOUIE  
(puts a palm on his cheek and scratches at his beard)

                                                   I’m okay. It sucked for a while, but now it’s better, so. For the best  
                                                   and all, you know the drill. 

ZACH

  
                                                   Yeah. Yeah...  


(then)

  
                                                   D'you and Marc make a blood oath or something? That’s so weird.

 

LOUIE

  
                                                   Wait, Marc? Marc who?  


ZACH  
(laughs, awkwardly)

                                                   Wow. Okay, I guess that’s a no on the oath, then. Maron. Marc Maron.  
                                                   I always thought you guys were close.

 

LOUIE

  
                                                   No, I haven’t seen him in years. What would we have taken an oath for?

 

ZACH

  
                                                   He just got divorced.

(a beat)

  
                                                   Actually, shit. I think that was his second time.  


(to himself)

                                                   My oath hypothesis is completely blown at this point.

 

LOUIE  
(rubbing his temple, repeatedly)

  
                                                   Wow, he did? I didn’t hear that. That sucks.

 

ZACH

  
                                                   It’s weird when it’s not just our parents generation that can’t stay together.

 

LOUIE  
(still palming the side of his face)

  
                                                   It’s so insane that you said that because the other day I found this picture from  
                                                   my wedding day and was thinking of how strange it is to not talk to him. He was  
                                                   one of my groomsmen, did you know that? 

ZACH

(incredulous, to no one)

                                                   Wow and I didn’t even get an invite.

The BODEGA’S OWNER casually walks to the middle of the store and stares, menacing, at where the two of them have been standing and talking for ten minutes.

BODEGA OWNER  
(loudly)

                                                   If you’re not buying anything, you need to leave the store. Right now!

 

LOUIE  
(holds up his box of Pop Tarts)

  
                                                   I'm buying groceries.

The bodega owner's eyes narrow. Close-zoom at his face. Cut back to Louie and Zach, Louie looking threatened, Zach looking oblivious. Quick cuts back and forth and it feels like they're about to duel over the cinnamon sugar Pop Tarts.  
  
Finally, the bodega owner makes his move and descends on Louie, the hand basket falling to the ground noisily.

BODEGA OWNER

  
                                                   Enough of this! Get out! You’ve had forever to make a decision, time is up! Go! Out!

 

ZACH

(slips his sunglasses back down, in Louie's passing direction)

                                                   See ya, Louie.

Louie is pushed out of frame towards the front of the store.

When the Bodega’s owner comes back, Zach shrugs innocently.

ZACH

                                                   Sorry, sir.  


(a beat)

  
                                                   Life of a celebrity.

 

He nonchalantly reaches to Louie’s abandoned basket and takes the Pop Tarts out, sniffs them, and puts them in his own.  
  


FADE OUT.

  


ACT THREE

 

FADE IN.

INT. HALLWAY – ASTORIA, QUEENS

Louie looks terrified. He knocks on a door.

Marc Maron appears, opening it.

MARC

  
                                                   Hey, man. Come on in.  


CUT TO:

  
INT. LIVING ROOM – ASTORIA, QUEENS – SAME TIME

Marc is wearing just an undershirt and gym pants. He leads Louie into the sparsely decorated room and motions to the couch. They sit.

LOUIE

  
                                                   Hey, how’s it going? It’s great to see you. 

MARC

  
                                                   Gettin’ there. A little surprised by this. And your phone call.  


(he crosses his legs, on edge)

  
                                                   Kinda not sure what to make of it, really. 

LOUIE

  
                                                   Yeah, I don’t know.  


(a beat)

  
                                                   Okay, the other day I was going through old pictures and found one of us from  
                                                   my wedding.  


(he puts his head in his hands)  
MARC

  
                                                   How is— 

LOUIE

  
                                                   We separated. 

MARC  
(nodding, even more on edge)

  
                                                   Oh, so that’s what this is about. Come to see the divorce Yoda to hear some  
                                                   wisdom? 

LOUIE

  
                                                   No. No, It just seemed totally crazy to me that we could be best friends for  
                                                   so long and our friendship meant the world to me, Marc. I think— actually—  
                                                   I was looking at a picture of my wedding and realized. That whole — the whole  
                                                   thing that happened. I blamed you. I blamed you for no reason. I blamed you  
                                                   and I was wrong to do that. It was totally my fault. Like...

(he looks up at nothing, thinking)

  
                                                   ...one hundred percent that was my fault. I'm speechless over how stupid—

 

Louie looks around the room, searching for more to say.

LOUIE

  
                                                   I don’t even know why we’re not friends. I should’ve been a better friend  
                                                   to you and I’m sorry.

 

MARC  
(wringing his hands)

  
                                                   Yeah, you should have. I am not just here to lend you some shoulder space,  
                                                   you know? I was going through some shit and you were nowhere to be found.

 

Louie looks away, looking ashamed.

LOUIE

  
                                                   I know, I’m sorry. I just need someone now who knows what a big deal this is.  
                                                   I ran into Zach yesterday buying groceries and he just gave me this look,  
                                                   I felt so pathetic.

 

MARC

  
                                                   What do you care what that asshole thinks?

 

They both chuckle.

LOUIE

  
                                                   My daughter hates me. 

MARC

  
                                                   Lilly or Jane?  


(at Louie’s look)

  
                                                   I know their names. Not talking for a few years doesn’t make me stop giving a  
                                                   shit about your life.

 

For some reason that pushes Louie over the edge and his face squishes up, ugly and red. He puts a fisted hand to his forehead.

LOUIE  
(voice cracking)

                                                   They don’t get why we’re not together. I feel like she’s never gonna forgive me.  
                                                   Lilly is so mad at me. I already screwed up with Janet— if lose my girls, too—  


(he trails off)  


MARC

  
                                                   Jesus, Lou. Get a grip.  


(then)

  
                                                   Hey, look. Do you still hate your parents for not getting back together?

 

Louie has a hand covering his face, thumb to pointer finger stretched just under his eyebrows. He shakes his head slowly.

LOUIE

  
                                                   You’re a good friend.  


(he lowers his hand)

  
                                                   We need to stop being such assholes.  


MARC

  
                                                   You first.

 

Louie laughs and wipes his eyes.

LOUIE

  
                                                   I’m sorry, I’m not gonna let this happen again. I love you too much to let us not  
                                                   be there for when we need each other.

 

MARC

  
                                                   Yeah, or just we could get coffee or dinner sometime. I mean, I'm hoping we'll  
                                                   get to a place where we’re not in need of friendship just to get over more  
                                                   emotional trauma?

 

LOUIE  
(laughs)

                                                    
                                                   Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

 

MARC  
(trying to change subjects)

  
                                                   So how are your folks? Your mom still in Newton?

Lingering shot of Louie still looking vulnerable and uneasy from his place on the couch. A shot of Marc looking like he wants to move on. Back to Louie who still looks desperate. We get the sense that Louie can't help himself but...

LOUIE  
(a beat)

  
                                                   I’m sorry, man.

 

MARC

  
                                                   Okay. It's all right, buddy.

 

LOUIE

  
                                                   I'm sorry. 

MARC  
(his hands shoot up defensively, for emphasis)

                                                   Stop it!

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT LIVING ROOM – LATER  
  
Jane and Lilly are sitting curled up against either side of Louie, watching TV. The colors flicker different shades of light on their faces as the camera reverses and shows them surfing through channels.

Louie stops on a comedy special on pay cable.

Zach Galifianakis is playing the piano. He stares directly into the camera while it zooms outwards. After a few seconds of maintained eye contact he burps.  
  
Jane and Lilly both cackle with laughter.  


JANE

  
                                                   I like him.

 

LILLY

  
                                                   I think it’s cool that he plays the piano. Do you play the piano when you tell  
                                                   jokes?

 

LOUIE

  
                                                   No. You like the piano? Since when?

 

LILLY

  
                                                   I love pianos. They have one in school, it’s pretty old. They don’t let us play it,  
                                                   though. I wish they did.

 

LOUIE

(looking around his empty living room)

  
                                                   What would you say if I got us a piano? Would that make this apartment feel  
                                                   more like your home, too?

 

Lilly considers this.  


LILLY

  
                                                   Does living here make you happy? 

LOUIE  
(off-guard)

  
                                                   Yes, baby. Much happier. Both your mom and me are much happier.

 

LILLY

  
                                                   Okay. 

LOUIE

  
                                                   Okay, that I live here or okay let’s get a piano for the living room? 

LILLY

  
                                                   Both.

 

Louie nods.

JANE  
(with a huge, goofy grin)

  
                                                   Cool!

 

ONSCREEN: Zach Galifianakis and a friend try on dresses.

Jane and Lilly both crack up again.

  


LOUIE  
(a beat)

  
                                                   Enough of this asshole.

 

He changes the channel.

JANE  
(in darkness)

                                                   Daddy!  


FADE OUT.

  


END OF SHOW


End file.
